In fifth grade, her parents caught her digging holes in the yard because she wanted to bury different items - food, papers, plastic - to see how long it would take for them to decompose.

"I used to think everything would break down," said Gill, 17.

As an eighth-grader, she convinced her father to agree to be her guinea pig to find out if caffeine intake contributed to blood pressure spikes.

"The hardest part (of being a young scientist) is that nobody really wants to be an eighth-grader's test subject," she said.

It was no surprise to those who know her that Gill, a Tracy High School senior, has been selected as one of two California delegates at the National Youth Science Camp. She was handpicked by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. Only two from each state are invited to the prestigious camp.

"Arashpreet is one of the most dedicated students I've ever taught," Tracy High physics teacher Dean Reese said. "Her involvement in both school and the community is beyond any student I've ever taught."

Gill, beyond being accepted to the three-week summer science camp in West Virginia, has impressed Reese and her other teachers and counselors through her role as president of Tracy High's Scientifically Speaking club and for an outreach project she's volunteered for - without Tracy High involvement - to help younger students at North Elementary School work on science projects.

"It's a lot of fun. I give them recommendations, but I let (the North students) do what they want. I want to introduce them to science, not force them to do a project that I want them to do," she said, noting that one hiccup in a North Elementary project has been one group's insistence on trying to launch a rocket using a force created by putting Mentos mints in a cola bottle.

Water pressure through a pump is proved to launch rockets, Gill said. However, she wants the youngsters to learn that trial, error, and fixing mistakes are how science is done.

Gill takes a loaded schedule and has a 4.43 GPA while taking some of Tracy High's most challenging courses, such as biology, chemistry, and physics. With a goal of becoming a pediatrician, she has an impressive résumé as a participant in the Research Mentorship Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied the cell reproduction in an embryonic zebrafish for cancer research.

Her work at UC Santa Barbara stood out. She was asked to represent the university at a related symposium hosted by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

"She has had a chance to do research as a high school student that undergrads don't get to do," said Reese. "It really is amazing what she has accomplished."

Gill said her mother and father, Gurul and Khushwinder Gill, have always been supportive of her and her sister Upinderpreet, a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley. Her mother, a Lammersville Elementary School District administrator, is a former science teacher and always encouraged her curiosity.

The National Science Youth Camp is a long-running non-profit program. The students travel to West Virginia and also spend a couple days in Washington, D.C. They hear lectures from top scientists from throughout the country and work on complicated science projects.

"I'm really excited. I think, you know, that when you get recognized by other people for what you're doing, there is a validation," Arashpreet Gill said. "Sometimes you see another person make an amazing breakthrough (in a science project), and that's awesome, but then you wonder if you have what it takes. Getting notices like this makes me realize that I do have what it takes."

Torlakson chose Gill and another senior, Veronica Rivera from Los Angeles County, to represent the state.

"As a science teacher, it's a thrill to send these two young scientists to this outstanding program," Torlakson said in a written statement, adding that he's confident Gill and Rivera will make notable contributions in the science fields "sooner than we think."

Gill is hoping to attend either UC Berkeley or Vanderbilt University in the fall. She said she doesn't know if her 4.43 GPA will line her up as a Tracy High valedictorian candidate.